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A Melancholy Truth

First Chapter:
The Man in Black

It was quiet in the main lobby of a large skyscraper owned by a crime syndicate. It was made to look more like the average business as to avoid unwanted attention. Inside there were two guards who stood behind the main desk in front of a small flight of stairs that led to the waiting room and the four main elevators, two on each side of the waiting room. All four of the elevators lead to the top floor of the building. The guards were busy watching a cheesy sci-fi, horror on a small black and white television pointing away from the main doors. The lobby was well decorated; nice potted plants, and elaborate designs around lobby; decorated by very well paid designers and architects. There’s also a statue of an angel holding a sphere like object above its head, looking as if it were showing the sphere off to the world to see. A man in a long black trench coat, black pants, and black casual shoes was looking in from the outside analyzing the lobby. He was peering through the large glass walls and doors just outside of the site of the guards; the man was looking in from the shadows contemplating his plan of action. When he finally came to a decision, he made his move and moved to the large doors and sighed.

The man walked in through the large double glass doors with his hands hidden within the pockets of his trench coat. The two guards behind the desk turned away from their cheesy movie to see who was walking in, upon seeing who it was they gazed in shock and horror. The reaction of the guards didn’t surprise the man in black for he was thought to have been dead. When the two guards finally returned to their senses they each reached to draw their Colt .45’s. They were not quick enough on the draw for the man in black had already had drawn his Desert Eagle and squeezed off two quick shots in rapid secession. Both of the guards started to fall back due to the bullets blasting through their skulls leaving a small splatter of red on the walls behind them. A guard in another room heard the gunfire and peered out through the door. Upon seeing what happened, he quickly hit the alarm, and a loud buzz sounded out through the entire building. The guard then busted through the door only to be brought down in one shot to the head as well. With the alarm buzzing, all the guards within the building were scrambling about trying to get to their positions. The man paid no heed to the buzzing alarms; his only concern was killing the person on the top floor.

The man started up the small flight of stairs that went up to the waiting room and the main elevators. When he reached the top of the stairs he had noticed that both of the elevators on his left were already on their way down to greet him. He then looked at the other two on the right; both had a sign reading, “Under repairs.” It was not hard for anyone to figure that the two incoming elevators were full of well armed guards, with the intent of ending the intruder’s life. The man looked for cover and found a column on the opposite side of the descending elevators and ran behind it with his back against the column. The man temporarily ejected the magazine within his pistol and saw that he had 4 bullets left in it, with two extra magazines left. The man in black peered around the column and saw that both the elevators were just a floor away. Bringing his gun up to shoulder level, and at the same time he kept it close to his chest. The elevator was now only ten seconds away, but those two seconds felt like a life time. While waiting for the elevators to reach him, his heart rate increased, his adrenalin still pumping, and his breathing grew heavier. The elevators finally opened and from both of them four guards each, all equipped with an MP5k. The man was well aware that the odds were against him, but he would not be deterred from his goal.

All of the guards piled out of the elevators and were quickly scanning the room for the intruder. Before the guards could find him, the man in black pushed out from the column and quickly spent the rest of the magazine before pulling back to the security of the column. Three of the eight guards were brought down with one bullet, but one of his bullets had missed its intended target, a rare event for one who invested so much time in ending lives with bullets. The guards retaliated with a hail of gunfire from their SMG’s, destroying the column little by little. While they were firing their seemingly endless magazines, the man in black quickly ejected his spent magazine, fed the next magazine into the pistol, pulled back the slide and waited for his chance to fire back. When they ran out of bullets they quickly began to reload their guns, but before they could start firing again the man in black quickly jumped to the left with his body parallel to the ground and finished them off with five quick shots while he was still falling to the ground, each delivering a fatal blow to the guards. When he landed, he quickly got back up and walked over to the bodies of the dead guards to pick up an MP5k’s and two magazines for it. He then walked into one of the elevators and pushed the button that went the top floor. The doors then closed and with that the elevator climbed towards the floor where his target was hiding.

Second Chapter:
Humble Beginnings

This all started the day the man joined the syndicate as a new recruit at the age of nineteen. His past consisting of solitude and emptiness ever since his parents left him at the age of thirteen. He started off as an errand boy, just delivering contraband, and making small time heists. His true talent made itself known when he was forced to fire a gun out of fear for his life. Using a small Glock 17 he took down a hit squad sent by a rival syndicate, all by him. He never said where his skills came from, but to his employers, knowing where his skills came from was unimportant. The man was then promoted to the hit squad and soon become the leader of a hit squad. He made the transition within one year since joining the syndicate.

After another year of leading a successful hit squad, the man was again promoted to a ‘Cleaner.’ A cleaner was just another fancy word used to lessen the impression of a hit man. Most of the time a cleaner worked alone and were highly trained to handle any possible situation. The man quickly became known as the Grave Maker for all of the people he sent to meet their end. After a month, it had seemed that the man had slowly lost his heart, for he just killed without hesitation upon being ordered to.

Another two years went by and the man was promoted once again, to his final attainable rank for a killer. He now became an ‘Eraser’ and only answers to the orders of the leader of the syndicate, Frank Contelleuse. Frank was a man of greed and has a need for power. He was born spoiled and was given plenty of power, for he is the only child to the previous leader of the syndicate, Joseph Contelleuse. Frank came under control when his father left it to him while he was dieing; Frank did not even shed one tear for his father’s death, but it was said that he was smiling when his father was being buried. The only people Frank had respect for in his control, were his Erasers. For the only reason why he respected them, was that they were fully capable of ending his life if they were crossed. Eventually, Frank began to question the faith of his Erasers. So he came up with a plan in order to weed out the ‘unfaithful.’

It was during his fifth year in the syndicate, the man in black was sent on a mission to termination of someone crucial to Frank’s crusade of controlling the entire city. The man was equipped with a 9mm SOCOM with a silencer attached to its barrel. His target was said to be in Warehouse five along the wharf where large cargo ships drop off their loads and pick up new ones. The man ran up to the edge of the Warehouse’s large retractable door which was open and a few cars were poking out from the large opening. After taking a deep breath, he swung around into the warehouse with his pistol up and his finger on the trigger. To His surprise, Frank was standing behind a roughed up man on his knees facing away from Frank, and his arms tied behind his back; The man appeared to be in his mid-thirties. Behind Frank, two of his bodyguards stood with their arms behind their back and staring through jet black sunglasses and wearing matching black suits.

“Welcome to the party, my friend. Glad you could make it.” Frank said opening his arms out to his Eraser. All the man did was look at Frank, with an emotionless look in his eyes.
“You never did talk much… Either way, your mission is simple. Kill this man, as well as our special guest,” Frank continued.

Upon hearing about the ‘special guest’ the roughed up man’s eyes widened with horror and turned to Frank mumbling about something. The man’s speaking was beyond understanding for his jaw that his jaw was broken and dislocated. Frank silenced him by kicking the side of his head, sending the man to the ground face first. “It’s your fault for failing me…” Frank said as two guards pulled out a young girl in her mid-teens who had her arms tied behind her back. The guards were having a hard time controlling the young girl for she was trying her hardest to break free from the guards. When she saw her father, she screamed and started yelling out for her father who was lying on the ground.

The Eraser just stood there not sure as to what was going on. “Well… Do it… Kill them!” Frank ordered. The Eraser just stood there confused for he had never killed people where were bound up. “Fine… I’ll help you start things off,” Frank said as he pulled out a Glock 17 and unloaded the magazine on the father spraying blood everywhere. The Teenager began to yell and cry as she watched helplessly as her father was murdered. She eventually broke free from the guards and ran up to her father and kneeled next to him crying.

“Okay… Now your turn” Frank said reloading the Glock. The Eraser had never killed someone younger than twenty, or even someone of the female gender. The Eraser’s eyes began widen with shock. “Pff… typical… you don’t have guts to kill a worthless b***h. Guess I have to finish this for you,” Frank said as he began to point his Glock at the girl.

The Eraser, out of instinct, brought his silenced MK23 Mod 0 and fired. In the eyes of the eraser, the bullet slowly flew towards its intended target. A loud pwang resonated within the warehouse as Frank’s Glock flew from his hand and onto the ground behind him. “You b*****d… you dare turn against me! And for this little b***h!” Frank yelled out in rage before giving the order for his guards to kill the eraser and the girl. Before the guards could pull out their guns, they all fell back when a bullet flew into their skulls.

“Why you…” Frank said angered
“Don’t move!”
“What?!”
“I said, don’t move!” The Eraser then slowly walked up to the girl, with his pistol still aimed at Frank. After pulling out a combat knife and cut the rope holding the girl’s arms tied.
“Run…” The eraser said to the girl, without emotion behind it.
The girl didn’t move and continued to cry.
“I said… RUN!” The Eraser yelled at the girl. This time the teenaged girl looked at the Eraser then back her father before running past Frank. The back door could be heard opening and closing.

“You won’t live to see the next day…” Frank said as a large group of guards armed with MP5k’s and Uzi’s. The eraser quickly turned around and began firing as he ran to his right towards cover. Though his shots were frantic, his accuracy did not wane, for all of his bullets flew to its intended target sending the guards to their grave. The Eraser’s magazine emptied as he ducked behind large wooden boxes which formed his cover. Knowing that the boxes contained large car parts such as doors and hoods, The Eraser remained unconcerned and reloaded as quickly as his could. The guards, still large in number, fired their weapons and released a hail of bullets upon the Eraser. A light thunk
Sound was made as a small grenade landed at the feet of the guards, and soon a large explosion followed that thunk.

Frank knew that the Eraser was hit, and knew that he would die if no one helped him. So Frank casually walked out through the large open door without looking back. Breathing heavily and his sight fading, the Eraser sat there bleeding. He had taken several hits to his body; one to his left shoulder, one to his right leg and one to his stomach. The Eraser just sat there bleeding and dieing, thinking about what had just happened and why he helped that girl. He just grunted and closed his eyes.


Third Chapter:
Loneliness

The Eraser’s eyes slowly opened, revealing a wide white ceiling above him. He then looked left and right showing that it was bedroom, most likely a guest room. Trying to get up he fought through the sharp pain and sat up to reveal that his wounds were wrapped in bandages. He examined the bandages and saw that some skilled in medical aid had treated him. He then saw a set of clothes resting on the chair next to the bed. Pulling himself out of bed, he put the clothes on and realized that they were his old clothes for there were holes in them where he was shot. He just sighed and staggered out of the room. The Eraser had the urge to leave the room and see where he was.

When he walked out of the room, the Eraser saw that it was actually a rather large house. There was plenty of space, and it was more of a mansion than a house. The walls a shining white and gold trim with wooden floors. There were priceless vases and paintings running along the long hallway walls, and everything seemed to have been kept clean. Very clean.

“You shouldn’t be out of bed with those injuries…” a young female voice said to the Eraser. He turned around to see that it was the teenager from before; he didn’t reply to her, just stared. “You’re sure are talkative for a gunman” she said as she walked up to him and began to inspect him. She then poked the bullet wound in the man’s shoulder; His eye just lightly twitched and he did not make a single sound.
“Wow… you’re tough… most people cry out in pain” she said as she stepped away from the eraser. “Why did you save me? Wasn’t it your job to kill me?” she said bitterly asking him.
The eraser just stood there for a second silent before saying, “Why did you save me, then?”
The teenager just stood there with the expression of I-don’t-know written on her face. The Eraser just grunted and made his way towards what he thought was the entrance to the mansion.
“Hey! Where are you going?!” She cried out to him.
The Eraser stopped and just said, “Out.”
“The least you could do is stay and help me out…”
“why?”
“Well, You owe me for saving your sorry a**!”
“I saved you first…”
The girl couldn’t think of any other reason to say besides, “I want you to stay…because… I’m alone here and have no one else anymore...”
The Eraser just stood there for a second his back still turned to her. He then turned his heard around to look back at the girl and said, “Fine… I’ll stay.”
The teenager looked up with a small amount of and happiness, “Thank you, my name’s Maria!”
The Eraser said nothing, but he did nod in response.
“You know, you’re supposed to tell me your name now…” Maria said agitatedly as she tapped her foot waiting for a proper response from the Eraser.
“Don’t feel like telling you…” he said as he walked away back towards the guest room he was put in. He then walked in and closed the door behind him and locked it.
“AH! YOU CHEAP b*****d!” Maria yelled in anger and disbelief and walked away extremely bothered by the rude response from the man.

The Eraser just sat in the chair where his clothes were hanging from and began to think about everything that happened. He was now thought to have been killed during the gunfight at the warehouse, but here he was still alive. He did not know what to think and just sat there not knowing what to do next.

The Eraser looked out the window of the room which was on the opposite side of the door. All he saw was just more lawn, but there were small pockets of gardens running along the mansion. As he just sat there staring out the window, he was still thinking of what he was going to do now. Go back to the syndicate and destroy Frank for nearly killing him over saving one life, or to just walk away from everything and start a new life else where. If he were to start a new life, then what was he going to do? All he had known how to do was kill and drive fast, as to avoid being arrested by the police or make an opening for hit squads. As he sat there thinking, light yet firm knocks emitted from the door. “Dinner’s ready…” Maria said from the other side; no hint of emotion could be heard within her voice. He sat there for a moment longer, before he got up and opened the door. He followed her to the dinning room.
“I forgot my name…” He said
“What?!”
“I forgot my name… simple as that”
“How could you forget your name?”
“No one called me by my name for a long time, so I forgot it.”
She said nothing in reply, but she was thinking that he was a few nuggets short of a happy meal.

Dinner was quiet between the two. Neither wanted to say anything and so they just ate and went their separate ways after. The plates were picked up by what remaining butlers and maids were left. Nothing important happened after dinner, at least for awhile that is.

It was mid-night at the mansion and the Eraser was still awake and sitting on the bed he was put in with the lights off around him. The only light in the room came from the moon and the only noise was the light winds blowing through the nearby trees. As he sat there he felt his eyes grow heavy with drowsiness and saw the world around him growing blurry. He tried to fight it, but it was a losing battle against sleep. He was at the brink of unconsciousness when he heard the light crumbling of rubble as cars drove into the driveway in front of the mansion. Now, he was wide awake and out of reflex reached for his pistol. After not feeling its presence he remembered he did not have his pistol, but he was armed with his hidden dagger within the sole of his shoe. It was not as large as his combat knife, which was also missing, but it was just as sharp. Sneaking out of his room, the Eraser crept towards the front of the house where the noise was coming from and peered across the room through the window and saw three Ford Lincolns parked outside with four syndicate hit men pouring out of each of them. His room was on the second floor, but it was towards the front of the mansion. He took a deep breath and got into position.

Fourth Chapter:
Protector

The Eraser had taken off his shoes and left his socks on so as to muffle his footsteps. He was waiting for the hit men to get into a position where he could take them out one by one without making much noise in the process. He was not within the main entrance of the mansion, but he was close enough to hear the hit men as they drilled out the locks of door. When they broke through the doors in a silent fashion they piled into the mansion and began to search the house for their target, who was most likely the girl. They were armed with small 9mm glocks with silencers attached so as to not arouse unwanted attention. The Eraser did not know why he was helping the girl, he thought through the reasons why he was still here. But they all came back to what she had said earlier, because she was alone. He had no idea why that reason had so much meaning to him, but he shrugged the thought off and began.

The hit men were spread out all over the mansion; they went around the house within the same groups as they were in when they came out of the cars. Four remained at the entrance so as to prevent escape. As one lit a cigarette, his head rocked back suddenly. A dagger protruded from his forehead. The Eraser emerged from the darkness and quickly retrieved his dagger and attacked the next hit man, and before he could fire his weapon his throat was cut wide open and blood sprayed from it as he fell to the ground. The next two hit men were taken down in the same fashion; quick and without a sound. Two groups now remained. The Eraser sighed before moving onto the next group. He caught up with the next group who had formed a line as they marched down the hall. He then ran up to the nearest one and covered their mouth before slashing their throat letting the blood run down the neck. He then dropped the hit man before running up towards the next one. He took him out, but he managed to let out a blood curdling scream which alerted the final two. The Eraser threw his dagger which landed in the neck of the second one from the front. They grabbed at the dagger and clutched it as they fell forward dieing. The last one began to fire at the charging Eraser, but the darkness and his speed made it hard for a bullet to even hit the Eraser. When close enough, the Eraser grabbed the arm of the hit man holding the pistol, and broke it with one move. The hit man cried out in pain, but was soon silenced when the Eraser got behind them and twisted the head enough to break the neck quick and painless.

“Oh my god!” Maria yelled as she saw the mutilated bodies of the hit men that the Eraser had just finished off. She could not do anything else but scream; the Eraser knew that would attract the rest of the hit men.
“Hide! Now!” The Eraser barked at Maria, who followed his orders and opened the nearest door and hid within it.

The Eraser hurried over to the body with his dagger and pulled it from it and grabbed the silenced pistol as well. As the hit men ran towards him he threw the dagger which found its mark in the neck of the first hit man. The Eraser finished the rest of them by delivering a fatal shot to their heads. The incident was ended and the sun was rising slowly lighting the dark mansion and revealing the blood stained floors. Maria slowly poked her head out from the room she was hiding in and saw the Eraser sitting with his back against the wall. He turned his gaze towards her and sighed, “They probably won’t stop coming until you’re dead.” Maria just stood there and looked at him with worry and uncertainty. “What s-should we do then?” she asked. Eraser just sat there before saying, “Find a new safe spot to hide. Fire all your butlers and maids before we leave… we leave everything as it is and just run, for now.” She nodded hesitantly and called all the butlers and maids telling that they were fired, but she gave them the actual reason as to why they were being fired… to protect them.

When all the calls were made, the Eraser asked Maria where his pistol and combat knife were. Maria thought for a second and ran off towards her room and emerged from it holding his pistol and knife; He took them back and placed them in their respective spots on his body. After he had everything, he lead Maria to one of the Ford Lincolns the hit men drove and looked inside the closest one and saw that the keys were left inside. He then opened the driver’s side door and started the car. Maria got in after the car was started and asked, “Umm… Where exactly are we going?”
“I have a safe house in the city, and since they think I’m dead and you’re alone… they wouldn’t think to look there.”
“Okay…” she said with a hint anxiety in her voice. Maria did not know what to do in this kind of situation; all she could do was to listen to the murderer who was also her savior. The Eraser then drove away from the mansion, leaving everything behind that was there. Maria looked back at her home as they drove off, back to the city.

The sun was high above and the sky a clear blue and traffic was horrible. The Eraser knew traffic was going to be bad, so he took a series of back roads to get from the mansion to the city. He was driving to a safe house he has not been to in a few months. It was under the care of a man named Eric O’Brien; The Eraser has known Eric for great deal time. They had first met during a mission to take down a rival syndicate’s officer. The mission was nothing compared to the missions they received later on when they both became Erasers.

When they got to the safe house, The Eraser was the first one out of the car and he looked at the mediocre building surrounded by buildings like it. He led Maria into the building and walked up to the front desk. The building was a run-of-the-mill apartment complex, but was managed by the not so normal Eric. The Eraser then called out and said, “Is Eric here?”
“Who’s asking?” a rugged voice echoed out from the room behind the front desk.
“Someone who’s an old friend…” The Eraser said, as a tall and well built man walked out from the back room. He was wearing a worn pair of jeans and a cheap Hawaiian shirt. “Oh s**t… am I seeing a ghost or somethin’?” the man said shocked
“I’m not dead, Eric… at least not yet” The Eraser said smiling
“Well then… good on ya, and who’s she? You have something for young girls, eh?”
The Eraser said nothing and just glared at Eric. “Hey, hey… I was just kidding. Your death-glares scare the s**t out of me” Eric said laughing. The Eraser just grunted in response. “So what can I do for you?” Eric asked smiling, knowing his friend was over his joke.
“Well I need my room key…” The Eraser said
“Okay, here you go” Eric said handing the key over. “Room still as you left it.” The Eraser just nodded in gratitude and walked up the stairs to his room, with Maria following him up.

When they got to his room, the Eraser used the key to open the door to his safe house. As he walked in, he turned on the lights to a rather cozy yet dusty room. As they went farther in, the Eraser kept turning on lights. “There’s only one bedroom in this apartment, go ahead and take it” The Eraser said as he walked over to his desk which is along the wall in the cozy three room apartment. The apartment consisted of a living room, a bed room and a bath room. The living room was also part kitchen so that one can cook if they had wanted. The Eraser just sat in front of the desk in a chair and began searching through the drawers. Maria just stood there and looked around the apartment analyzing everything in the room. “You can sit down… you could also watch T.V. in the bed room” The Eraser said as he kept searching through his drawers. Maria decided to go into the bed room and watch television.

As The Eraser dug through his drawers, someone began to knock on the main door. Cautious as usual, he got up while drawing his MK23 Mod 0 and walked up to the door. He looked through the eye hole to see Eric standing on the other side. Putting his pistol away, he opened the door and greeted Eric and let him in. “What do you need, Eric?” The Eraser said as walked back to the desk and resumed to looking through the drawers. “Just wanted to talk was all… after all, you were gone for a long time. And from the last I heard of you, you were dead.” Eric replied as he walked over to the couch behind the desk and sat in the middle of it.
The Eraser grunted as he digs.
“Talkative as ever, Sven…”
“Haven’t heard my name in a while” Sven said smiling.
“You still sticking with the ‘I forgot my name’ B.S?”
“Old habits die hard”
“Course they do… does she know? You name, I mean…”
“No… better if she doesn’t”
“If you say so” Eric said as he stretched. The sky slowly turned gray from the rolling clouds.


Fifth Chapter:
Feelings

Eric looked down at his watch and sighed and got up and said, “Well I better get back to managing this s**t-hole of an apartment, later Sven.” Sven waved as Eric walked out the door. The apartment was quiet minus the low hum of the television in the bedroom, and the shifting of papers. Sven pulled out a file and laid it on the desk and began looking through it. The file contained information on Frank and the main syndicate building, he had a feeling he would be using this file sooner or later. So he put it away where he knew he would have easier access to it. “Let’s do something…” Maria said walking in on Sven.
“Hm?” Sven hummed as he looked back at her.
“I said, ‘let’s do something.’ What’re ya, deaf?!”
“I’m not deaf… but fine, we’ll do something. What do you have planned?”
“Well… we go out and go shopping!”
Sven just sat there staring at Maria before saying, “What’s the point of shopping?”
Maria glared at him with what seemed to be an evil eye, “To have fun! What else!”
He sighed before complying with her demands. Maria jumped with a smile on her face and pulled Sven by his arm and took him shopping. Actually, he was just a pack mule to Maria as she shopped.

Days went by as Sven and Maria hid from Frank and his men. Eric would visit them from time to time, and talk with Sven about times when he was still ‘alive.’ As those days went by, somewhat of a bond between Sven and Maria was formed. He became a guardian for Maria, and made sure she did not get into any trouble. For instance, there was a day where some sex-crazed set their eyes on the young Maria. She had accidentally lost sight of Sven, and they had cornered her. The thugs were soon dispatched by Sven after Maria called out for help. He then beat them senseless with a metal pipe he found in the alleyway they were in. One had tried to pull a gun on them, but Sven drew his faster had aimed at thug’s frontal lobe. The guy then dropped his gun and fainted, “hmph… that was pitiful…” Sven grunted as he walked Maria away from the broken thugs.

Maria and Sven were out and about once again, actually more like another shopping spree. Maria still had a credit card with her father’s name on it so that she could get what she wanted. Her father had saved up to a large amount of money while he was still alive and serving Frank. She still remembers the incident but masks it with a smile. During the shopping spree, Maria noticed something about Sven. She did not know what it was, but she felt something while she was with him. She had thought it over for the rest of the day and had come to a conclusion as she lay in bed.

The next day, Maria had walked up to Sven who was busy cleaning his disassembled pistol. “Umm… I have to something I wanna say…” She said as she looked at him.
“Hm?” he said as he continued to work on his pistol. Maria stood there trying to form how to say what she had on her mind. She had finally worked up the courage to say, “I…l-l-love you…”
Sven had stopped working on his pistol and just sat there. Maria waited for a response from him. He could not think of something to say, and just sat there. He finally said, “No you don’t… It’s just the tense…”
“No! I know I love you! Why won’t you see it?” She snapped interrupting him. Sven was now emotionally cornered and looked out the window. Upon looking out he saw a black Ford Sedan park outside and men in black suits coming out of them. They were Frank’s men. Soft knocks emitted from the door and Sven carefully walked up to it. “Damn it! Why are you…” Maria tried to say before Sven raised his hand to tell her to be quiet. He peered out the door to see Eric. Sven opened the door and let Eric in.
“Eric… We have a situation… Frank’s men are here and…”
“I know… I called them” Eric said as he pulled out his Desert Eagle and pointed it at Sven.
“Eric… why?”
“Well, the girl is worth a large sum now. And the prize is higher if she was brought to Frank alive. And with that amount he’s offering… how could I not take the job.”
Sven did not say anything and just stood there with Maria hiding behind him.
“I cannot allow you to take her, Eric” Sven said with a stern look on his face.
“You won’t allow me? Since when did I ask for your ********’ permission?”
Eric began to pull the trigger, but his gun hand was knocked up from a kick Sven delivered. The gun still went off, but the bullet went into the ceiling. Sven then lunged at Eric and thrust his combat knife into his heart. Sven gave a cold glare towards Eric, who fell back dead.

Footsteps could be heard rushing up the stairs from the hit squad coming for blood. Sven knelt down and picked up Eric’s Desert Eagle and pulled some extra magazines. The first hit man busted the door to the safe house, only to have a bullet drive through his skull. The rest of the group tried to gun down Sven, but they were taken out as quickly as the other. “My name is Sven… Sven Kilter” He said to Maria.
“What are we going to do, Sven?” she said looking at him with frightened eyes.
“I take you to my uncle’s… and I go and end this”
“But, Sven!”
“There will be no arguing about this… I am looking out for what’s best for you.”
Maria just stood there with her hands in fists and tears running down her face.
“Sorry… but it must be done…” He said as he led her down to the car and drove towards his uncle’s house.

Sven’s uncle, Robert Kilter, was the only family he had left, and is fully aware of what his nephew is. He lives in the wealthier district of the city and manages one of the companies that are funded by Frank. He was more faithful to his family than his employer. When they got to his uncle’s condo, he found his uncle just walking in. Sven got out of the car and called out to his uncle.

Sven’s uncle led both of them into his condo and listened to what they had to say. After listening, Robert was greatly concerned for his nephew’s plan. It took some time for Sven to convince his uncle to let him go out and stop Frank. But not at long to convince him to look after Maria; actually, it did not take any convincing at all. With everything said and done, Sven walked out of the condo and made his way towards the Syndicate.

Final Chapter:
Good Byes

As the elevator went up, Sven put away the Desert Eagle for future use but he kept the MP5k out so that he could use it. Sven looked up at the decorative dial that indicated which floor he was on or near, it was had gotten to the tenth floor when he heard a small ding and the elevator doors opened to reveal three armed guards all aiming at Sven with pistols. Barely a second had gone by before they started firing, Sven tried to pull the trigger before they could. The gun fight lasted at least eight seconds; the three guards were all dead. The doors then closed and continued towards the top floor. As it went up, Sven staggered back until he hit the back of the elevator and slid down the wall of the elevator leaving warm, sticky blood on it. Two bullets had gone right through his body; one through the left shoulder, the other through the lower left area of his stomach. The elevator was close to reaching the top floor, and most likely there would be guards waiting there. All of whom would give their lives for Frank, for they were loyal to him. Sven slowly pushed himself up to his feet and reached into his jacket to pull out a welcoming gift for the waiting guards.

The elevator had reached top floor with eight guards armed with Uzis waiting right outside the doors in the small waiting room. When the elevator doors started to open, the guards began to unleash a hail of bullets upon the elevator. They kept firing until they all ran out of ammo in their magazines. There was a cloud of smoke in front of the elevators that took several seconds to disappear. And when it did there was nothing but blood and bullet holes on the elevator’s wall; this left the guards in confusion. There was a loud thunk before the sound of something heavy rolling towards the guards. The guards looked down to see what it is, but their hearts sank with fear when they found out what it was. It was a M67 grenade with the pin missing. A second later there was a loud bang, as hot shrapnel flew everywhere and tearing through flesh, bone and drywall. Sven waited for a while before jumping from the roof of the elevator onto the elevator floor, and before the doors could close he staggered out into the destroyed, bloody room.

Sven’s clothes were slowly becoming drenched with blood from the bullet wounds he had received. He was too weak to wield the MP5k, so he dropped it and replaced it with the Desert Eagle. He continued on towards a badly damaged door; as a result of the grenade. Sven then paused for a moment to take a deep breath, like the kind one would take before they dive into a deep pool of water, and exhaled through his mouth as he kicked down the damaged door and charged into a room full of armed guards. Sven fired both of his remaining shots and brought down two of the eight guards. He then quickly dove behind a sturdy couch and began to reload his pistol. The guards were relentlessly firing; either to keep him suppressed or they hoped to hit him with a lucky shot. After the magazine had been replaced, Sven jumped out from the right side of the couch and fired three more shots bringing down three more guards while still in midair. He had landed on his right shoulder and slid across the floor, quickly firing the last three shots. After the small gunfight he rolled over onto his back and began to very tired. Sven was exhausted from the fighting and the pain; the adrenaline rush was fading away. His eyes were growing heavy and they wanted to close, but Sven forced himself up back onto his feet. For him, falling asleep now would mean he would never wake up from that sleep. Sven made his way towards the next door while reloading his pistol knowing one bullet was not enough, but before he could get half-way across the room, the door on the other side of the room had opened and standing in the doorway was another Eraser known simply as, “Johnny.”

The eyes of the two Erasers had met and were locked on to each other’s. They stood there staring for three seconds, before Johnny said, “you’re such a dumbass, ya’ know?” Sven just stood there, and did not say a single thing. “You shoulda just killed the lass and save yourself the trouble” Johnny continued, “Or, you coulda just pretended to stay dead and let us kill the little lass.” Sven just stood there breathing heavily, with both of his arms hanging from their shoulders, gripping the pistol tightly in his right hand. Johnny then drew his custom made katana from its sheath that’s attached to his left hip. Johnny was a skilled swordsman; he’s quick, agile, and highly trained. He had the ability to read the person and their gun so that he could reflect bullet and send it back at its owner. It was say that he was training as long as he could hold a sword; Johnny was not a force to be reckoned with, but Sven was taken lightly either.

Their eyes were in a deadlock as they stared at each other so that they could counter the other’s move, in other words it was an old fashion quick draw. Just that one was wielding a pistol, and the other a sword. Speed was keen in this match between these two erasers, if one did not react in time, they would definitely die. Two or three more seconds had gone by, before Johnny made the first move by charging directly at Sven. Sven then quickly brought up his pistol and fired, but as expected Johnny deflected it back at him having it pass his right lung. Determined, he remained standing, with Johnny closing in swinging his sword in a downward motion. The attack had only cut at the gunpowder smelling air, for Sven dodge rolled to his right. This left Johnny’s back exposed, using the advantage, Sven had and fired the rest of his bullets into his back, with the bullets flying through his heart and chest. Johnny just stood there bleeding profusely from his chest and back. “Damn… you. You should be the one diein’” he said while breathing heavily. Sven then stood up and said, “I cannot die just yet”
“Why’s that?”
“I have something to protect”
“Bull, ********’ s**t… I don’t believe you, you b*****d!”
“Like you would know”
Sven then started staggering towards the door Johnny had came through. “Wait” Johnny said; Sven then stopped to hear what he had to say. “You’re a real ******** tard… you know?” Johnny said. Sven did not reply and just continued walking towards the door. Johnny fell forward dead with a blood puddle forming around his body with a smirk on his face.

Sven busted through the door to see Frank staring at him with shock from behind his desk. “DAMMIT, YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE GOTTEN THIS FAR ALIVE!” Frank cried out with terror. Sven brought up his pistol which put Frank into an even greater state of fear. Sven pulled the trigger making Frank flinch… nothing happened but a small click… Sven had no bullets left in the magazine and no more magazines to load into his pistol. Frank laughed mockingly at his own fear and Sven’s mistake, and then he walked in front of his desk and pulled out a Glock 17 pistol and fired one shot into Sven’s left lung, causing him to cough up blood. Sven dropped his pistol, and quickly pulled out hidden combat knife and charged Frank. Frightened, Frank fired three more shots, all of which had hit Sven but did not stop his mad dash. Frank kept firing but none of his bullets could stop Sven from getting close enough to slash his throat with a quick swing before thrusting the knife into his heart leaving it there. Frank fell back onto his desk gurgling blood before dieing there on the desk.

Sven then started to stagger towards the exit, but had collapsed onto his knees half-way towards the door. The room around Sven began to grow dark, and his body grew cold. Sven then fell forward onto the ground with something flying out of his jacket pocket. It was a locket Maria had given to him before he had left. She gave it to him so that he could promise to come back alive. The locket had a picture of Maria with her parents when they were still alive; her mother had died when she was just at the age of seven. Sven stretched out his right hand trying to grab at the locket. When he felt his finger tips touch the chain of the pendant, he began to pull on it. Soon, the locket was within his grasp and Sven grasped it tightly. His eyes then closed as he laid there in a pool of his own blood, still holding the locket tightly. He knew he would not make it from start, but it was something he had to do to protect someone he cared for. “Maria…” was the last thing he had said before passing on to the next life.